09-03-2020, 12:15 PM
<center><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/tJm4qrjM/anomalyjelly.png"><table bgcolor=1F1F1F style="border-color: black; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: -195px" cellspacing=30 cellpadding=30 width=600><tr><td><CENTER><font face=times new roman color=5c736a><font style=font-size:9pt;line-height:12pt;letter-spacing:1px><font style=letter-spacing:3px><p align=right><Font color=02a375><i>a n o m a l y.</i></font></font> </CENTER><p align=justify>
She narrowed her eyes at the shape on the horizon. This place was disorienting enough on its own – but she could not tell if it was one shape or multiple. What she did know is that whatever it was – it was fast. There was a shimmer around this creature – similar to what the heat did to the earth on a hot day. A familiar occurrence around Pangea. But she knew nothing like <i>this</i> called Pangea home.
But she did not turn and flee. Perhaps it was foolish, but Anomaly was raised by monsters. Her first memories were of her mother’s creatures – assigned to watch over her egg before she hatched, alone in that sandstone cave in Pangea. The smooth black exoskeletons of the xenomorphs had been the first figures she had set her eyes upon. The teeth and crowned heads and knife-like tails had never been something that had stirred fear in her belly – only comfort. That, in itself, spoke volumes about her upbringing.
So she didn’t recoil or flee from the otherworldly shapes that appeared on this strange horizon. She simply watched as they grew closer – curiosity overpowering caution. The figures – for she was sure now it was more than one – seemed almost elegant. It seemed to plunge in and out of the earth like creatures of the sea did through water.
The land here is arid – more desert than anything though there are trees larger than any she’d ever seen scattered across the landscape. Trees that <i>shouldn’t</i> be able to survive in the sand yet here they were – over a hundred feet tall. But the creatures cut through the sand like the sea, and it wasn’t until they grew nearer that Anomaly began to feel the prickle of fear grow in the back of her mind. Because it was only when the shape raced passed distant trees that she realized the scope of the creatures.
She was in trouble.
She whirled – looking to see if there was somewhere to hide. But there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. She swallowed down the rising panic and turned to face her fate.
But the horizon was empty.
The creature had gone.
The air was still. Too still.
Anomaly knew better than to be relieved. She heard it then. A strange chirping. Like nothing she’d heard before. She turned, immediately, and sawnothing but a shifting of sand. She heard it again, but this time it is behind her. And again, there is nothing to be found. But the sand <i>was</i> moving, she was certain of it. She wasn't sure if the chirping continued, because all she could hear was the pounding of her own heartbeat echoing in her eardrums.
And then, everything exploded.
The creatures emerged in a blinding shower of sand that forced her to squeeze her eyes shut. It happened too quickly for her to truly understand. She could feel the teeth and claws, but the movement is so blindingly fast, she can hardly make sense of the long limbs emerging from the sand below – limbs that move so much faster than she could.
Every few moments she could register a circular-shaped mouth dripping with her own glowing blood or a long tentacle-like limb tipped in a pair of claws shooting from the ground grabbing for her limbs. It was so overwhelming all she could feel is panic and pain – so, so much pain even though she was already dead and gone.
<i>Can you die when you’re already dead? Is there another world beyond this twisted afterlife? </i> The thoughts are fleeting as her energy wanes.
Her screams grow weaker as her body breaks. She feels a long limb wrap around her barrel squeeze – breaking bones and cutting off her screams. <i>This is it. </i> she thinks, pitifully.
She feels herself falling...
There's a horrific screech...
She wonders, for a moment, if the creature was screaming of triumph – having finally pulled her beneath the sands.
But no, that wasn’t it at all.
She’s free. She’s back. She’s <i>alive</i>. She knows these sands, inhaling the familiar scent of lingering salt mixed with decay.
She says nothing. She doesn’t move to stand. She doesn’t check to see if her wounds have closed. She knows she is alive. The ragged rise and fall of her chest is evidence enough of that.
That and the pain, of course. The echo pain still lingers. Perhaps it always will. It isn’t her primary concern at this point. She simply lies there, on the soft sands of the beach, gasping for air.
All while the deadly, glowing blood flows freely from her nostrils onto the stale, damp earth below.
<br><br><font style=font-size:9pt;line-height:12pt;letter-spacing:1px><font style=letter-spacing:3px><Font color=02a375><i> i'm breathing in the chemicals.</i></font></font></table> </center></center>
She narrowed her eyes at the shape on the horizon. This place was disorienting enough on its own – but she could not tell if it was one shape or multiple. What she did know is that whatever it was – it was fast. There was a shimmer around this creature – similar to what the heat did to the earth on a hot day. A familiar occurrence around Pangea. But she knew nothing like <i>this</i> called Pangea home.
But she did not turn and flee. Perhaps it was foolish, but Anomaly was raised by monsters. Her first memories were of her mother’s creatures – assigned to watch over her egg before she hatched, alone in that sandstone cave in Pangea. The smooth black exoskeletons of the xenomorphs had been the first figures she had set her eyes upon. The teeth and crowned heads and knife-like tails had never been something that had stirred fear in her belly – only comfort. That, in itself, spoke volumes about her upbringing.
So she didn’t recoil or flee from the otherworldly shapes that appeared on this strange horizon. She simply watched as they grew closer – curiosity overpowering caution. The figures – for she was sure now it was more than one – seemed almost elegant. It seemed to plunge in and out of the earth like creatures of the sea did through water.
The land here is arid – more desert than anything though there are trees larger than any she’d ever seen scattered across the landscape. Trees that <i>shouldn’t</i> be able to survive in the sand yet here they were – over a hundred feet tall. But the creatures cut through the sand like the sea, and it wasn’t until they grew nearer that Anomaly began to feel the prickle of fear grow in the back of her mind. Because it was only when the shape raced passed distant trees that she realized the scope of the creatures.
She was in trouble.
She whirled – looking to see if there was somewhere to hide. But there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. She swallowed down the rising panic and turned to face her fate.
But the horizon was empty.
The creature had gone.
The air was still. Too still.
Anomaly knew better than to be relieved. She heard it then. A strange chirping. Like nothing she’d heard before. She turned, immediately, and sawnothing but a shifting of sand. She heard it again, but this time it is behind her. And again, there is nothing to be found. But the sand <i>was</i> moving, she was certain of it. She wasn't sure if the chirping continued, because all she could hear was the pounding of her own heartbeat echoing in her eardrums.
And then, everything exploded.
The creatures emerged in a blinding shower of sand that forced her to squeeze her eyes shut. It happened too quickly for her to truly understand. She could feel the teeth and claws, but the movement is so blindingly fast, she can hardly make sense of the long limbs emerging from the sand below – limbs that move so much faster than she could.
Every few moments she could register a circular-shaped mouth dripping with her own glowing blood or a long tentacle-like limb tipped in a pair of claws shooting from the ground grabbing for her limbs. It was so overwhelming all she could feel is panic and pain – so, so much pain even though she was already dead and gone.
<i>Can you die when you’re already dead? Is there another world beyond this twisted afterlife? </i> The thoughts are fleeting as her energy wanes.
Her screams grow weaker as her body breaks. She feels a long limb wrap around her barrel squeeze – breaking bones and cutting off her screams. <i>This is it. </i> she thinks, pitifully.
She feels herself falling...
There's a horrific screech...
She wonders, for a moment, if the creature was screaming of triumph – having finally pulled her beneath the sands.
But no, that wasn’t it at all.
She’s free. She’s back. She’s <i>alive</i>. She knows these sands, inhaling the familiar scent of lingering salt mixed with decay.
She says nothing. She doesn’t move to stand. She doesn’t check to see if her wounds have closed. She knows she is alive. The ragged rise and fall of her chest is evidence enough of that.
That and the pain, of course. The echo pain still lingers. Perhaps it always will. It isn’t her primary concern at this point. She simply lies there, on the soft sands of the beach, gasping for air.
All while the deadly, glowing blood flows freely from her nostrils onto the stale, damp earth below.
<br><br><font style=font-size:9pt;line-height:12pt;letter-spacing:1px><font style=letter-spacing:3px><Font color=02a375><i> i'm breathing in the chemicals.</i></font></font></table> </center></center>
Anomaly is radioactive.
Those that touch her may experience metallic taste, nosebleed, nausea, headache, hair loss and/or skin lesions.
Symptoms become worse with prolonged exposure and onset is accelerated when exposed to her blood.